KHATAM AL BUSAIDI

AGE: 21

HOME: AL SUWAIQ, OMAN

MAJOR: JOURNALISM

HOBBIES: WRITING AND PHOTOGRAPHY

FAVORITE SAYING: “BUY THE AMOUNT YOU HAVE”

Khatam Al Busaidi, sophomore journalism student from Oman, is set on returning home to build her career after graduation.

It has been three years since Khatam first arrived in Lincoln to pursue her education in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This is the first time she has been away from her family.

Having to travel more than seven thousand miles away, she described her transition “difficult at first.”

She grew up in a big city with a much denser population than Lincoln. However, the main difference was the culture.

“We stick more to the traditions,” she said. “Like the clothes we wear and how to act outside with people.”

In Oman, both men and women are expected to dress conservatively, covering up almost every part of their body. Women are also expected to cover their hair by wearing head scarves.

Aside from the dress code, it’s normal in Oman to have big families and for a man to have multiple wives.

Khatam’s father has two wives, so she comes from a big family. Being the youngest in the family, she was named “Khatam” which means “the end.”

“I have seven sisters and two brothers and this is just from my mother,” she said, laughing. “If I lived with a small family I think I would be totally bored.”

In addition to that, she has four step-sisters and two step-brothers. That is a total of 15 siblings.

Growing up, she enjoys writing and taking photos, which led to her pursuing her education in photojournalism. She aspires to one day become a famous photojournalist traveling to areas of poverty.

“I want to let the whole world know about the difficulties that they have and try to help them more,” she said. “From there, I hope that people would go out and volunteer more and not just through donations and campaigns, but to physically go and help.”